


With a Song in Our Hearts (A Timestamp)

by morganoconner



Series: Peppermint Wind [3]
Category: Supernatural
Genre: Kid Fic, M/M, Marriage, Romance, Schmoop
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2011-02-07
Updated: 2011-02-07
Packaged: 2017-10-18 06:21:48
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,858
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/185925
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/morganoconner/pseuds/morganoconner
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>In which some things change, and some remain irrevocably the same.</p>
            </blockquote>





	With a Song in Our Hearts (A Timestamp)

Her voice rang out across the auditorium, the melody falling from her lips pitch-perfect, heartrending and lovely. The bright lights from the stage shone down, creating a halo of soft radiance around her. Honey-colored hair fell in waves down her back, gentle curls framing her face and her clear sea-green eyes, the color of which could be seen from a hundred feet away.

Iris Marie Winchester was fourteen years old, and Gabriel thought he was the luckiest dad in the whole wide world, to be able to look up on that stage and say, “That’s my girl.”

Beside him, Dean took his hand, linking their fingers together with a grin that any other day, still had the power to send Gabriel’s pulse skyrocketing. The archangel leaned his head against his husband’s shoulder, ignored the way he could sense Conner rolling his eyes at them from Dean’s other side, and lost himself in the sound of his daughter’s voice.

Clear as a bell, Iris’ chiming soprano voice lifted the song to a crescendo, carrying it through to the end, just before it tapered off to the final closing notes.

He’d heard the song dozens of times, coming from her room while she practiced, and practiced, and _practiced_ for this show, but he’d never heard it quite like this, and the audience sat as stunned as he was until, blushing, she bowed and walked back to the rest of the _a capella_ group.

And then the roar of the audience, students and teachers and parents and siblings alike, was _deafening_ as they burst into sudden, thunderous applause.

Gabriel caught Iris’ wide eyes as she stared out in shock, and he gave her a wink that finally released that special smile that lit up her whole face.

Yeah, that was his girl up there, and Gabriel couldn’t have been any prouder than he was right then.

~*~

“Daddy, Papa, did you see?” Iris bounded up to them immediately after the show, her face flushed with excitement and achievement, laughter bubbling out of her the moment Dean grabbed her into an enormous hug that lifted her off her feet.

“Course we saw, baby girl,” Dean said, kissing her forehead. “ _Told_ you you were gonna rock it, didn’t I?”

She blushed. “Daddy…”

“Yeah, don’t think we didn’t see all those people stopping you on your way over here to congratulate you,” Gabriel added, pulling her into his own hug. “So proud of you, angel.”

She pressed her face into his chest. “Thanks, Papa,” she whispered. “Never could’ve done it without you.”

“Course you could have,” Gabriel murmured into her hair. “You’re amazing and you can do anything you put your mind to.” He paused. “But. I _am_ pretty awesome, no denying that.”

Iris giggled, pulling away and trying to wipe her eyes before he saw the tear-tracks. He let her pretend, felt his heart swell anyway.

And then she was being tugged back and engulfed in her brother’s arms as he spun her around until she was dizzy and shrieking and laughing all over again. “Conner, put me down, you oaf!”

He did, grinning from ear to ear as she reached up and smacked him over the head. “I can’t believe you came all the way across the country from Berkeley just to see this,” she said, shaking her head.

“Because it’s such a tough trip,” Conner snorted. “And like I’da missed your first big solo. Besides, I’m ahead of my studies, and I don’t start my graduate program till next semester.”

Gabriel felt another flash of pride at that – his son, who’d skipped not one but two grades in middle and high school, who was near the top of his class while holding down a _triple major_ , was about to start working on his Masters degree in Classics. And that was _while_ he was using his free time to help Bobby set up an online hub for hunting activity – case specs, journal entries, every _scrap_ of lore they’d ever comes across, and a chat section to get help twenty-four/seven.

Yep, Gabriel’s kids were amazing.

“You’re such a geek, Conner,” Iris said fondly, before turning back to her parents. “I have that thing, so I’m gonna go, but I’ll be home by nine like I promised.”

“Better be,” Dean said, accepting the kiss she stood on tiptoes to press to his cheek.

She bestowed one on Gabriel as well, and then with a wave, bounced off, leaving a bewildered Conner blinking after her. “A _thing?_ ” he asked, looking back and forth between his parents.

Gabriel and Dean looked at each other, had a silent battle about who was going to have to be the one to break _this_ news to the overprotective big brother.

Dean won.

Gabriel glared at him, even as he braced himself to look back to Conner. “Iris has a date.” He tried to mutter it as indistinctly as possibly, but despite his best efforts, Conner heard.

“ _What?_ ”

~*~

Conner was still grumbling as they walked into the house twenty minutes later. “I can’t believe you let her go on a date,” he muttered, pinning Gabriel with a sour look that had the archangel raising an eyebrow. “She’s only fourteen!”

Behind him, Dean snorted as he hung his jacket up. “The way I remember, you made out with Bonnie Clark on your thirteenth birthday in the back of my baby.”

Conner at least had the decency to flush. “That was different.”

“Uh huh.”

Magnum loping into the room saved Conner from having to come up with a suitable comeback, and he bent down to greet the dog – still a puppy in hellhound years – with a friendly rub-down that had the big black monster practically in doggie spasms of euphoria. “Well look, you guys don’t care if I crash here tonight, right?” Conner asked, glancing back up. “I brought my laptop, I can get the work done for Bobby just as easily here as I can in the dorm. All I’m gonna do otherwise is worry about her.”

The kid was as tall and as built as Dean was – and the ex-hunter made it a _point_ to keep himself in shape – but it didn’t stop Dean from slinging an arm over his shoulders and mussing his hair as Conner straightened. “Course we don’t mind,” he said. “Just means I can con you into making pancakes for everyone in the morning.”

Rolling his eyes, Conner ducked out from under Dean’s arm and headed toward the stairs to his room, Magnum following at his heels. But Gabriel didn’t miss the smile that quirked across his face as he went.

~*~

Gabriel wasn’t pacing. He was an archangel who could move from one place to the next in a blink, who could hear someone praying to him from anywhere on the globe. He’d been spending the last decade completely confident in his and Dean’s ability to do the best job they were capable of watching out for their kids. He knew, without doubt, that Iris was fine.

And Dean had used every resource to do a thorough background check on the kid who thought he was good enough for their angel, just to be safe.

So Gabriel _definitely_ wasn’t pacing.

Yeah, right. Just like Dean wasn’t sitting there on the couch, watching him with a glint of mirth in those viridian eyes as he tried _not_ to laugh at his husband.

Uh huh.

“You’re as bad as your son,” Dean said, propping his feet on the coffee table and leaning back with a smirk.

“How come he’s only _my_ son when we’re both being ridiculous?” Gabriel asked with a pout.

Dean raised an eyebrow in response.

Gabriel conceded the point petulantly.

There was a rush of affection through the bond they shared, and Dean stood up and walked over, drawing Gabriel into his arms. Gabriel acquiesced with a sigh, wrapping himself around Dean and nuzzling under his chin. “Stop worrying,” Dean murmured, tilting Gabriel’s face up so he could drag him into a kiss.

For a long moment, Gabriel forgot there was anything _to_ be worried about, lost in the sensation of Dean’s mouth moving against his, of the bond flaring bright between them… And then he yanked himself away with a scowl. “That’s cheating. I didn’t teach you the ins and outs of the bond just so you could use it against me.”

Dean grinned unrepentantly. “Worth it.”

~*~

It was fifteen minutes before nine when the front door clicked open. Dean had long since passed out on the couch, the abnormally long day catching up with him since he’d been up before the crack of dawn throwing a case file together for one of Bobby’s more incompetent contacts.

At the sound of the door closing though, he blinked bleary eyes open and sat up with a yawn, glancing at his watch, then over to Gabriel. ‘ _Early?_ ’ he mouthed.

Gabriel could only shrug in return.

Iris came into the living room wearing a bright smile that both her fathers saw through immediately. “Hi guys,” she said, curling up on the giant overstuffed recliner.

“Hey there,” Dean said quietly, watching her with concern. “How was it?”

Her mask slipped, just enough to make her visibly cringe. “Kinda tired. Can we talk abut it tomorrow?”

Dean’s eyes met Gabriel’s, and Gabriel gave a surreptitious nod. Yawning widely – and way too exaggeratedly to be taken for anything other than what it was – Dean stood, ruffling Iris’ hair and ignoring her pout. “No problem, baby girl. I’m gonna head up, try and get a real night of sleep. Your brother’s makin’ pancakes in the a.m.”

That finally brought out a grin, and she rolled her eyes. “He’s such a dork.” She stood up and gave Dean a hug. “Night Daddy,” she whispered.

He kissed her on the nose, shot one final look to Gabriel, and disappeared up to their room to wait for a report.

Iris shook her head. “You think you guys are sneaky, but you’re not,” she told Gabriel.

“He’s just worried about you, you know that. You looked upset.” He took a seat on the couch, tugging her down with him. She curled into his side the way she always used to do when she was little, drawing her feet up underneath her and burying her face in his shoulder. “C’mon angel, tell me what happened.”

She shrugged a little. “Not _upset_ ,” she mumbled into the fabric of his shirt. “Just…disappointed. S’a difference.”

“Course there is,” Gabriel said, nodding sagely. His heart twisted in his chest with the desire to make everything better for his little girl. If only snapping his fingers would work as well on this as it used to on everything else…

“Just…wasn’t what I thought it’d be. Brad was all…” She waved a hand, which didn’t really tell Gabriel anything. “He was such a _guy_.”

“Gee, thanks.”

She giggled a little. “He just…he was all ‘I’m so cool’ this and ‘look at my muscles’ that…not _really_ like that, but…ugh, he was such a _dick_.”

“Language,” Gabriel said mildly. Not like he or Dean really cared _that_ much, but the school tended to frown on it. “And I’m sorry he was a sucky date, angel. Should I get my smite on?”

“Nah,” she said with another giggle, quickly smothered. “He seems to think I’m his girlfriend now, and he’s gonna be in for a shock at school Monday when I don’t pay him any attention at all. Like I’m gonna be some football jock’s trophy girlfriend.”

“I could conjure up a really hot college guy to _pretend_ to be your boyfriend, have him pick you up in a shiny red car, make everybody else, including sucky date guy, really jealous.” He waggled his eyebrows at her, and she laughed into his shoulder.

“ _Papa_. I’m okay. But thanks.” She smiled up at him with an adoration he never really felt like he deserved, and that he really hoped never completely went away. He’d heard horror stories about teenage girls with their parents, and he couldn’t imagine his Iris being that way. Not to him.

Maybe to Dean, sometimes, if she was having a really bad day.

“Hey, Papa?” she murmured, wrapping her arms around him. “C’you sing me my lullaby tonight?”

And if he’d needed any conformation about how hurt she really was over the whole thing, that was probably it. He kissed her on top of her head, running a hand through her hair. “I can do that,” he told her, closing his eyes as she clung to him tighter.

~*~

Conner was conked out when they crept past his room, his mouth hanging wide, laptop open and perched on his chest, Magnum curled up on the bed with his head lying on Conner’s thigh. Iris covered her mouth to stifle her laughter, and Gabriel rolled his eyes as he turned off Conner’s light and closed his door silently.

“I’m glad he came,” Iris whispered as she stepped into her own room and crawled onto the bed. Gabriel settled in next to her, lifting an arm so she could cuddle in close, which she did without hesitation.

“Pretty sure he’s glad he came, too,” Gabriel said. “He misses you. May not be that hard to get a ride on angel express over here, but he’s still pretty busy.”

“I miss him too,” Iris confided. “Got used to having a big brother around to watch my back.”

“Aww, you know you could take him just as easily as you could take any other mooks who messed with you.” Gabriel smirked down at her, and she grinned a little and shrugged, not denying it.

“By the way, tell Daddy I’m sorry? I know he’s gonna be hurt I didn’t wanna talk to him. It’s just, he gets all…he’s just like Conner.” She says this with the tone of someone who thinks it’s a major failing. “They’d both go and threaten to kick Brad’s ass before I could say a word, and it’s not…”

“I get it,” Gabriel assured her. “And I’ll tell him, even if I think he knows anyway. Your dad’s a smart guy.” He paused. “Well, most of the time.”

“Mmm. One more thing… Uncle Sam and Uncle Cas do ‘ _incognito_ ’ about as well as a pink elephant dancing down Main Street. You may wanna tell them to work on it, next time you have them spy on my date.”

Gabriel cringed, just a little.

She smiled a little though, seemingly unbothered by the whole thing, closing her eyes as her body started to relax against his. “My lullaby?” she asked, her voice almost whisper quiet. “Think I’ll sleep better with it tonight.”

“’Kay then,” he said, carding his hand through her hair again, closing his eyes and taking a breath as he let the song begin to flow from long-ago memory. She joined him at the first word, her voice quiet but clear as it danced with his own, the angelic lullaby he’d taught her a decade ago coming to her as easily as it had ever come to him.

She’d told him once that it was this, these moments they had together when she was a child frightened of nightmares, that had first made her want to sing. He remembered how hearing that had made his throat close up, his eyes water. To know he’d inspired her, that he’d helped her find a dream she was now beginning to live…

Her voice drifted away and she succumbed to dreams before the song ended, but as he always did, he finished, let the melody soothe him as much as it had her. The rhythm of the words, the flow of the music… It was a balm to his grace, a comfort no matter where he was. A reminder of who he was and where he had come from, when Heaven sometimes seemed very far away. A blessing he’d only ever shared with his brother, his children, and his husband. A gift he hoped his children would someday share with their families.

The final notes tapered off, and Gabriel released a soft sigh, carefully moving from the bed and tucking the blankets around Iris before quietly making his way to his own room, where Dean would be waiting.

Maybe after they talked, he would sing his husband to sleep as well, follow Dean into his dreams the way he loved to do sometimes.

Tomorrow morning, his kids would probably argue, and the dog would probably cause a racket. Conner would burn the pancakes, and Iris would be late to school. Bobby would yell about his project taking too long, Sam would call with a detailed list of how awful high school boys were, and Gabriel would lay his head on his arms and wonder how this was possibly his life.

And he’d secretly love every moment of it, all the noise, all the confusion, every single insane second.

But right now… Right now was a time for peace. Right now, with a song in his grace and love overflowing in his heart, seemed like a time for lullabies.


End file.
